


Of Coming Home and Staying

by Sciura



Category: Four Brothers (2005)
Genre: Drama, F/M, Family, Family Drama, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Character Death, Revenge, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:35:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 20,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24893239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sciura/pseuds/Sciura
Summary: Melissa Stevens, a former classmate of Angel Mercer, is still in Detroit despite her big plans. And that’s a reason why the young woman gets involved in things she better had avoided. But would life be less complicated that way?
Relationships: Bobby Mercer & Original Female Character(s), Bobby Mercer/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	1. The Funeral

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Vom Heimkommen und Bleiben](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/637435) by Sciura. 



> Hello everybody!  
> While being in more or less self-chosen quarantine I found the inspiration to write fanfiction again. I gave this old idea of mine a new try and it worked out quite well. It’s originally written in German and I’ve seen the movie also only in German recently, so if I quote somebody wrong, it’s because of that. And if you have a suggestion for improvement, just let me know.  
> Maybe there’s some other fan of Four Brothers out there who enjoys reading this.
> 
> Have fun!
> 
> ___________________________________________________________________________
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own any rights of the movie nor do I earn money from this.

Melissa approached the front door with weary steps. Her hand moved to the door knob, but it was locked. Why did she even bother to try? She knew exactly that her mother always locked the door, even when she was at home. Trying not to drop the groceries, she searched for the keys in her bag.  
Finally she got hold of it. The lock gave a muted click when she turned the key.  
  
“Melissa, is that you?” her mother called from the kitchen.  
“’course, who else shall it be?” she responded and brought the groceries to the kitchen.  
  
Her mother sat on that old kitchen table, peeling potatoes.  
You could see the years Judy Stevens had been on this earth, and fate wasn’t going easy on her now that she was 61 years old.  
  
“Mom, you shouldn’t be doing that.” Melissa stepped up to her mother and gently took the peeler off her hands. She sat down next to her, grabbed the cooking pot and the small trash can.  
“My arthrosis won’t get better, if I don’t do anything” Judy tried to protest but she let her daughter take over.  
  
They went quiet for a moment.  
“Did you hear what happened to Evelyn Mercer?” her mother finally asked and fixed her necklace.  
  
Melissa nodded and pushed back a strand of her honey blonde hair. “They had nothing else to talk about at work. Terrible.”  
“Investigations are still going” her mother summarized what she had read in the newspaper. “The funeral will be the day after tomorrow.”  
Melissa nodded again. “And when the rumors are true all her sons will be there.”  
  
That was new to her Mother. She looked at Melissa with surprise. “Really? I don’t know, if that’s a good idea. Especially the oldest is always trouble.”  
Melissa knew she was right on that. “I think, I’ll be attending the funeral anyway” she announced unhesitant.  
  
After all she had been in the same school class as Angel Mercer and had a nodding acquaintance with Evelyn. But who did not in this city? It would become quite a gathering if all her acquaintances were attending.  
  
“Melissa love, could you please help your father?” her mother disturbed her thoughts.  
  
Kenneth Stevens had been a proud, good looking young man. He had served his country in Vietnam until he got hurt and had been discharged as unfit. But he was lucky because he met the equally beautiful and gentle nurse Judy Masterson and the quickly fell in love. And when their daughter Melissa was born their family was perfect.  
But this man was long gone. Since his stroke he was partially paralyzed and always depending on help from his wife and daughter. That made him filled with bitterness and cynicism.  
  
They had supper in silence until her father found something to criticize as always. “The potatoes are cold. And my meat is not cut in small enough pieces!” he nagged.  
Melissa and her mother exchanged quiet glances, then Melissa got up and stepped to the old man. She took his cutlery and split some of said pieces. “Better now?” she asked but didn’t expected a response. Her father only growled something incomprehensible and snatched the fork from her fingers.  
  


Both women were glad when supper was finally over. They took care of the dished together.

Then Judy followed her husband to bed. Every day with this man was a burden to her.  
  
But Melissa began to choose the right outfit for the funeral. Tomorrow she would be at work all day and she needed to know if she had to run to get some tights or something else before closing-time.  
After thinking forth and back she decided to wear a black knitted dress since winter in Detroit was always cold.  
  
The next day was stressful and Melissa had no time to think. Not about how things were between her parents nor about the funeral the next day. Instead she had to run from one place to the next and back.  
When she got home this evening, her mother, who always waited for her daughter to come home, had already gone to sleep.  
  
  
The clouds hang low and it was foggy the next morning, when Melissa pulled open the curtains. Fitting weather for a funeral but it didn’t surprise her.  
She put on the dress with woolen tights and grabbed her warm coat. She had decided to attend the service, too.  
“Mom?” she yelled.  
“Here love”, her voice coming from the kitchen. “Have some tea al least. It’s cold.”  
“I know, Mom” Melissa smiled. After all these years her mother was still worried about her daughter.  
  
About an hour later she sat in the church, on one of those uncomfortable wooden benches. There were a lot of people but Evelyn Mercer had been known in Detroit. Some went up to Jeremiah Mercer, who sat in one of the front rows with his wife and children, and told him how sorry they were for his loss.  
But Evelyn’s other sons were nowhere to be seen.  
  
After one and a half hour of preaching, remembrance and praying the procession went out to the graveyard where some more people joined. Melissa stayed in the back; she didn’t want to intrude upon the family.  
When they reached the grave, she chose a spot where she could see what happened but wasn’t in the front row. And now she could see that Bobby and Jack had made it at last. Only Angel was missing.  
  
They stood also in the back as if their mother’s death hadn’t happened as long they didn’t look down onto the coffin. Melissa glanced over to them sheepishly she didn’t want to be caught starring. She tried to read their expressions wondering what they were feeling.  
Jeremiah had been a open book, not trying to hide his tears and Jack’s face also showed what had keeping him awake at night.  
But Bobby, his poker face was nearly perfect. Melissa couldn’t see any hints of grief or pain. She glanced over once again to find the men making their way through the crowd to join Jerry at the grave.  
  
For a long moment she zoned out and began thinking about her own parents. How would she feel, if one of them died?  
If her father died it wouldn’t be that bad, would it? He would be released from his physical and mental pain and her mother would be freed from his tyranny. But of course, it would hurt her deeply.  
But if her mother died first… Melissa didn’t want to think further what that would mean for herself. She wasn’t close to poverty but she also didn’t earn a lot of money. She barely could afford a nice apartment. She could not pay for a special-care home for her father. But if she would have to look after him herself, she would need to cut down her hours at work. That definitely wouldn’t solve her financial problems. The war her mother had been fighting for years, besides her arthrosis, Melissa had respect for that. She doubted she could do the same.  
  
Silent tears streamed down her face and left grey traces on her cheeks – she hadn’t been using waterproof mascara this morning. She snuck a tissue out of her coat pocket and dabbed away the marks as best she could.  
  
“Is it this bad?” she heard a caring voice next to her.  
Melissa swiped her again then she looked over to the woman on her left. She was tall and dark haired wearing a pale woolen coat. Her best friend must have been sneaking up to her while she was deep in her thoughts.  
“Ah no” Melissa made a discarding gesture. “I’ve only been thinking how I would feel if I had to bury my parents.” She sniffed and dabbed her nose one last time, before she scrunched the paper tissue and put it back in her pocket.  
“Liss, you shouldn’t be thinking such depressing things on such a sad day” the other woman scolded her dark eyes flashing.  
Then she leaned over and they hugged each other briefly. “I didn’t see you in the church” her friend changed the subject. “I tried to save you a spot but it’s unbelievable how many people showed up. If only half of that crowd is coming to the funeral feast Camille will go crazy.”  
  
Upon mentioning Jeremiahs wife Melissa remembered that Rebecca had been working with her a while back and they had become sort of friends. She felt sorry because she had been neglecting her friend for the last thee years. Of course, she had been looking for new friends.  
“Are you coming?” Rebecca looked at her expectant.  
Melissa was a bit confused, but then she saw that the crowd had cleared. Apparently, the main event was over and the Mercers had left too.  
“Oh” she blurted out and scratched her forehead with the cuff of her glove. “I don’t know them that well, that would be presumptuous.”  
Rebecca nodded understandingly and hugged her goodbye. “I miss you, Liss.”  
“Miss you too, Becky” Melissa muttered. She wasn’t sure if her friend had heard that.  
  


On her way home she tried to push away the thoughts about dying and loss, instead she tried to think about the next day at work. But that also couldn’t lift her spirits. Having to work on a holiday – pardon, being allowed to work – that made nobody happy.


	2. Thanksgiving's Weathergirl

Even though the next day was Thanksgiving Melissa had to go to work at the broadcasting station. That was the norm as long as you had not reached executive status. And Melissa was far, very far from getting there. She didn’t even plan on working here, but somehow, she ended up there. At least, it did pay the bills.  
Her interest for meteorology and weather patterns had always been strong and she wanted to study that. But after a few semesters her father’s stroke made her plans impracticably. And that was how she became an assistant to the weather broadcaster at a local TV broadcasting station. And weather broadcasts had also be done on a holiday, nationwide and locally.  
  
There wasn’t too much work that day, nevertheless Melissa was glad she had gone home right after the funeral of Evelyn Mercer. She had been a little distressed and she didn’t want to appear on television with puffy eyes.  
Actually that wasn’t even her field of work but she was sure that her boss’s stand-in wouldn’t show up. He himself was never seen at work on and around holidays. The first time this had happened Melissa had been taken by surprise und her presentation was everything but good. But since then a lot of time had passed and she knew exactly what to expect, when she got to work.  
  
  
  
Bobby was bored, very bored. He switched channels every few seconds. Soon there would be a hockey game to watch but until then he could not decide what to watch to drown out the clamor ‘la vida loca’ was causing upstairs. He didn’t like the idea of another woman in this house than his mother but what could he do about it. If he had planned on becoming the next patriarch he would have had to show up in this city more often.  
“Man, make a decision” Jerry barked. Seconds later the remote flew through the air and landed quite short next to his brother on the floor. The television changed to a local channel showing the news.  
“… and now, let’s have a look on the weather” the speakers announced in a low volume. The screen changed and showed a young woman who pointed at various temperatures and other marks on a map of Detroit.  
  
“Hey, since when do they have such a sexy weathergirl there?” Jack asked. He had just entered the room and thrown a quick glance at the TV.  
His tree brothers turned to check. “I know her from somewhere” Angel muttered before he stepped into the hallway and called for Sofi. She trampled down the stairs and hissed something unfriendly in Spanish. “Hey, hey Baby” he tried to calm her down and kissed her pouting lips. “Baby, where from do I know the weathergirl?”  
She instantly began to nag again, but he brought her to the living room.  
  
“Si, la vida loca, where from knows Angel that weathergirl?” Bobby digged deeper who had visibly enjoyed driving Sofi crazy. Angrily she glared at her lover’s brother, then she turned to the television screen. At once her expression became soft.  
“That’s my… cousin Rebecca’s best friend” she explained with a smug tone in her voice directed at Bobby. She had caught his intention to imply that Angel hat some kind of relationship with that woman. “She was a classmate of yours, Angel.” Then she threw her long dark hair over her shoulder and went back upstairs. Angel followed her and Jerry turned up the volume as precaution.  
“Imma call Camille” he excused himself right on and Jack had also gone back to the kitchen.  
  
So Bobby was alone with the TV and stared at it while his thoughts run free. So that’s why the woman seemed familiar yesterday. He had noticed her glances very well, she had studied Jack and him even though she had tried to be stealthy. But somebody with Bobby’s past, with his experience had eyes not only in the back of is head, but everywhere.  
He had equally studied her what she had not noticed, he was quite sure of that. How she had fixed her hat over her ponytail, how she had fiddled on her coats cuffs, how she had pushed up the fogged pair of glasses on her nose.  
He had noticed her the minute he had crossed the city limits and he had no idea why. There was something about her, but what? And why did it impact him in this way?  
His glance skimmed the telescreen just in time to catch the banner showing her name. Melissa S-something. Melissa  
  
He didn’t pay attention to his thoughts and fantasies and the had immediately gone places. He imagined her moaning his name with pleasure, how he let his fingers run through her hair, what her scent would be like – stop stop stop, what did he do here? Fantasies of a woman he did not know the slightest.  
  
Being so absorbed in his thoughts he had missed the beginning of the game and that Jeremiah had come back.  
Awkwardly he changed positions on the couch so nobody would notice what effects his fantasy had on some parts of his body, some private parts.  
‘Bobby Mercer, are you that desperate already?’ he thoughted by himself. So now only imagining a woman was enough for him to get a boner.  
  
  
  
“Hey, that was your best performance so far” Phil, the news anchor, complimented her. Melissa looked down in embarrassment. “Thank you.”  
But her gut feeling told her that he was right. Never before had she felt such confidence. Now that the show was over her exaltation was fading. Just imagining that all the people out there had watched her presenting the weather forecast. But most certainly nobody had paid too close attention, it was just weather – the boring addition to the news. It was not hockey, there people paid attention. Which team had won, who had scored a goal, that were the important things in this city.  
  
Whatever; Melissa tried to preserve as much good energy as she could. Now she could go home and spend the evening with her parents. Since her father had had that stroke the holidays had become lonesome. The family didn’t want to spend time with that grumbler her father had turned into. And that was why they were not invited anywhere for Thanksgiving nor did anybody show up upon their invitations. And so they had stopped trying.  
  
This evening was quite peaceful. Melissa had a notion, that the death of a well-known benefactress had gotten Kenneth thinking and her mother would beware herself of waking her husband from his thoughts so she also could get some quiet and peace.  
After supper everybody retreated, Judy and Kenneth stayed in the living room to watch something trivial on TV and Melissa went upstairs.  
  
Exhausted she sat down on the toilet lid for a moment. She wanted to remove her makeup finally. For her appearance on the screen the makeup artist always did her very best to sculpt her entire face into something different. She hated that. This time she had tried to avoid that by doing her own makeup in the morning, but the business-minded woman from the makeup department had ‘corrected’ Melissa’s work.  
She sighed and got up, looked into the mirror. Her grey-blue eyes seemed tired through the glasses, not just tired from the day, but disappointed of what her life had become.  
She took a step back, she didn’t want to think about things like that right now. Quickly she took of the glasses, grabbed a washcloth und scrubbed her face clean. And when she was already at it the brushed her teeth.  
  
Minutes later she slipped into her bed. Even though not much hat happened today it had been exhausting and tomorrow was around the corner. Friday. Black Friday. She hoped downtown wouldn’t be too crowded. Not that she had planned on going shopping but she had to get to work.  
She took her mobile off her nightstand. Last year she had gotten one for Christmas, finally, Rebecca had urged her to. She tipped a quick text message to her friend. “Hey, it was good to see you again. Do you wanna meet tomorrow night?”  
A few minutes later her phone vibrated and showed Becky’s response. “Totally, like we should go to that bar, we haven’t been there in ages!”  
That wasn’t quite that, what Melissa had in mind, but when Becky got hold of an idea she wouldn’t let go. Besides… she really hadn’t gone out in some time, that could be fun.  
  
Slowly her body grew tired and she snuggled into her blanket, but her mind didn’t want to come to rest.  
Again and again she thought about yesterday and the moment when she had stolen some glances. Bobby Mercer… He somehow had changed, but at the same time he had not. She would never had guessed that the short crush she had on her classmate’s older brother when she was fifteen years old could come to life again when she saw him again over ten yeas later. Back in the days, he had been a tumultuous young man whose fate hadn’t gone easy on him. Now he seemed more calm, mature. But appearances could be deceptive, after all she only had stolen a glance from the corner of her eye.  
  
She sighed and forced herself to think about something else. Counting sheep had always helped her fall asleep. She hadn’t even gotten to ten, before she drifted away.


	3. Friday Night

The whole day Melissa had worked her ass off, did all the tasks she normally had to do, because to everybody’s surprise her direct boss had appeared. It seemed he had gotten an admonition from his bosses for being absent so often around holidays. Besides that, he seemingly had gotten into a fight with his wife – nobody knew about what but there lots of speculations – and he wanted to escape her anger. And where could he be safer than in front of a camera with thousands of witnesses watching TV? Melissa had to smirk on that conclusion.  
  
Nonetheless she was more than glad when her working hours were over and she could call Rebecca to pick her up. Today her mother Judy hat taken the family car to get to her shift at the hospital where she worked part-time.  
Shortly after her call her best friend pulled up to the building and Melissa dropped into the sagging passenger seat.  
  
“Gosh, I’m so glad this worked out, I was afraid I wouldn’t see you until New Year’s Eve” the brunette started chatting happily and leaned over to semihug her. “We should totally make plans for that day” she continued without giving Melissa a chance to speak. Then she put the lever from ‘neutral’ into ‘drive’, activated the turn signal and set off into the light traffic.  
Melissa squinched up her face. “I bet I’ll have to work that day, and with my luck, I’m gonna be in front of those damn cameras.”  
“Hey, no pouting” Melissa pulled a grimace that showed very well that she’d prefer it if her friend paid attention to the road. It was late November in Detroit, the temperatures seldomly rose above 30 degrees.  
“The camera loves you and you know your topic so where’s your problem?” Rebecca continued without taking note of Melissa’s facial expression. She had spent all her life here and knew exactly what her car could take during this weather and what not.  
“Besides that, there is somebody I want you to meet” Becky took the topic back to what she initially wanted to say. “He’s not in town right now, but he’ll be on New Year’s Eve.” She winked at Melissa.  
  
To avoid answering Melissa turned her gaze to the window on her side. Perhaps this was another of Becky’s tries to set her up with a guy she knew or if she was to meet her friend’s new boyfriend. Those poor bastards where so often replaced, that Melissa couldn’t keep up with the names. No matter what, it could turn into an interesting, fun filled night and was a better plan than her usual – go to work, back home and to bed, sleeping soundly through midnight. But there was no need to hurry the day after tomorrow was only the first Sunday in Advent.  
“I’ll try to come, okay?” Melissa offered. It was no definite ‘Yes’ but Becky would not care because she always just heard what she wanted to hear.  
  
In the meantime they had reached the bar. Melissa hadn’t been for such a long time she barely recognized the place. Maybe that was also because it wasn’t very memorable. Rebecca headed straight for the door and Melissa remembered why they had come here in earlier years. There was basically no bouncer and the barkeeper didn’t care for his customers age as long as they knew how much they could take.  
  
The women chose a small table that was not to close to the counter. Right after putting down her coat and purse Rebecca went to get them drinks without asking Melissa for her choice. That would become interesting, because Becky tended to choosing the strangest beverages. So Melissa was understandably surprised when her fried put a mug of tea down in front of her. The shocked look on her face only made her counterpart smile whimsically.  
“I know how prissy you are, Liss.” The Latina grinned and stirred her own glass, probably Gin Tonic. Becky made an inviting gesture so Melissa took a sip from her mug.  
She immediately had to cough. “That’s definitely laced” the blonde said with her voice scratching after she had stopped coughing.  
“Yeah, lots of it” her friend grinned again. “That’s tea grog, works wonders during winter. You should give that to your father. How is that old grinch doing?” Melissa rolled her eyes and took another sip, a big one this time. Then they talked about what had happened in the last few months.  
  
Inconspicuously or quietly where two words most unfitting to describe the arrival of the Mercer brothers at the bar. And yet the women only noticed them, when Bobby openly brought out a toast to his mother.  
  
  
  
Bobby had spotted the two women at that table the second he stepped into the bar. Of course, he had hidden that he had seen them. Despite that he had studied one of them unnoticed for as long as possible. He had recognized her immediately from the funeral and TV even though he could only see half of her face and mostly her hair. Her long, blonde hair.  
He always had a thing for the blondes, equally natural and bleached. Even the trashy bimbos who most likely had also bleached their brains. He snorted involuntarily when remembered how unsatisfactory those fucks were. The stupid ones had been a deeply disappointing experience. He had to admit he had liked their looks.  
But the woman over there was different. He was sure it was her natural hair color. And he bet she wasn’t stupid although… how much brain did it take to be a weathergirl?  
  
The brothers sat down at the counter and ordered the first of many rounds.  
“I wanna make a toast to Evelyn Mercer, the greatest mother four degenerate bastards ever had.” They gulped down the whiskey and got another round before they went to sit at a table.  
Bobby had taken care that he could watch the two friends from his spot and so he didn’t miss the moment Melissa – he had remembered her name – got up and was headed to the restroom.  
“I’m gonna take a piss” he declared and followed the woman to the back of the taproom without waiting for a response.  
  
He hadn’t to wait long until she returned from the women’s restroom. She quietly grumbled because the soap had run out and whipped her hands dry on her jeans.  
What the fuck was he doing here?! What should he say? It was totally creepy to ambush women in front of the restrooms, was it not? Especially at a place like this. What was she even doing here? She didn’t seem to go to such places, she was more a girl-next-door type. Well girl next door in a neighborhood where the money was. He bet it had been this friend of hers that dragged her here. Wasn’t that a cousin of some kind of Sofi? Where ‘la vida loca’ went to get drunk he knew very well. You would meet that kind of woman in a place like this, who tell you they love you before they cause a scene whenever possible.  
It was Jack Daniels’ fault that he stood here like an idiot and the words he blurted out next were also Jack Daniels’ fault.  
  
“Hey Pussycat, don’t I know you from somewhere?” he called out and she looked up in surprise. Apparently, she didn’t see him until now still whipping off her hands.  
“Bugger off” she droned and didn’t even look him in the face trying to push herself past him to go back to the taproom.  
“No, seriously” he stepped into her way. “Aren’t you that one weathergirl? Melissa, right?” Very pleased with himself for not mentioning the funeral he grinned at her most charmingly.  
  
She gave him a depreciatory look. “What if I am that Melissa?”  
His grin got bigger. “Then you would certainly want to be nice to a man who just lost his mother.”  
It got quiet for a moment, then she tore a small piece of some paper from her bag. “Okay then, Bobby Mercer” she mumbled while scribbling something on that slip of paper. “I’m a nice person. Here. Maybe you need help from a… weathergirl” she literally spat out that word “someday, then – and only then – you may call me.” With those last words she handed him the paper and squeezed past him ultimately.  
  
Baffled he followed her with his eyes, then took a closer look at the paper slip in his hand.  
‘ _Melissa, the “weathergirl”_ ’ was written in a quirky handwriting followed by her phone number.  
He had missed that last line when he skimmed the paper the first time, but now that he looked closer he saw it. ‘ _don’t you ever call me, Bobby Mercer_ ’ scribbled in even more crippled writing. She certainly was drunk, too. For what else reason would one go to a bar?  
And then he finally realized that he had not introduced himself. She had to know him why else would she be able to call him by his name?  
Perfectly satisfied with himself he decided to ignore that last line. He would definitely call her, after all she knew his name, knew him and still had given him her phone number.  
  
  
  
Oh no, no, no, what had she been thinking? Had she been thinking? This awful tea grog thing was to be blamed for her giving away her phone number so frivolously to a complete stranger. In a sober state she’s never done such a thing. And maybe it was also Becky’s fault because she told her how good she looked on the TV and only moments afterwards somebody recognized her. That had flattered her ego.  
As quickly as possible she hurried back to her friend, flopped onto the chair and dropped her head on the table top.  
“Becky, I did something stupid” she told the wood grain print on the plastic foil her forehead rested on top. “I told a man my phone number.”  
  
“But honey, that’s great” the other woman exclaimed. Her drinks had been effectively from the second one at the latest. Melissa wondered if she still was safe to drive but knowing her friend that shouldn’t be a problem.  
“No, you don’t get it, that was not any man” she explained further and raised her head enough to look her in the dark brown eyes. “Bobby Mercer now knows my number.” Then she let her head drop back onto the table.  
  
“Oh…” escaped from Becky’s lips “and now you’re regretting it and you don’t want him to call you.” This conclusion described Melissa’s problem perfectly. After all they were talking about Bobby Mercer, that man had a reputation in this city.  
Then her eyes started gleaming. “Sofi can help us most certainly” she immediately started to make a plan. “You know, my sort of cousin Sofi. She was in a relationship with Angel once and now that he’s back, I bet she instantly jumped on his cock again.” Rebecca had to pause because of her giggling. “Come on, get up, where gonna visit Sofi. I’m sure she can snatch that paper from Bobby.” The Latina dragged her friend to her feet and together they lurched out the door with Bobby Mercer paying close attention.  
  
  
  
But that had to wait, first he had to find out what this basketball playing witness knew.


	4. The Call

To their big surprise they had found Sofi at home with her parents, who were a little puzzled to see their kind of niece this late on a Friday night but they didn’t really take it further.  
Sofi was not less surprised, but after Rebecca had convinced her cousin that this ‘pale bitch’ didn’t want to steal her Angel she was willing to help.  
About an hour later and a lot calmer the two friends left again this time headed for Rebecca’s shared apartment. It also wasn’t easy for her to afford her own apartment even though she earned more money than Melissa.  
Melissa was thankful that her friend had offered her a place to sleep, because she wouldn’t want to wake her parents this late at night, especially not her mother.  
  
The next morning was unpleasant; the women had no hangover but you couldn’t call the night unhurriedly. Rebecca’s roommate and some girl he brought home with him were highly involved in that.  
Luckily, they didn’t meet one of them on their way out to get coffee before Rebecca dropped her friend of at home. She didn’t want to worry her parents more than necessary. Besides that, her mother certainly needed help with grocery shopping and cleaning.  
  
And so Melissa’s Saturday went on completely normal and unspectacular.  
Sunday was supposed to be equally normal, the Stevens family had breakfast together, this strange peaceful mood still clanged to the patriarch. Afterwards Melissa and her mother got dressed for church.  
In the old days all three of them would have gone to the service together but since he suffered from that stroke Kenneth believed that God had betrayed him. He swore to never set a foot again in a house of prayer – or to be pushed in in a wheel chair that being his main way of moving.  
Mother and daughter just had arrived at the church, gotten hymnbooks and picked a place to sit, when Melissa’s phone rang. The number was unknown to her. Her stomach tightened and somewhere underneath her navel something began to tingle, when her thoughts rushed to the man who was probably waiting on the other end.  
“Mom, I’ll be right back” she excused herself and rushed out of the church.  
  
On one hand, she had made it perfectly clear he should not call her but on the other she certainly had had a little hope Sofi wouldn’t be able to snatch that slip of paper from him.  
Her thumb hovered over the green answer button indecisively, the tone ringing aggressively a forth time now.  
“Answer that already, Ma’am” a cheeky teenager called over immediately being scolded by his mother.  
Offhandedly, she pressed the button. “What is it?” she wanted to ask harshly but she didn’t get past “Wha…”.  
  
“Hey weathergirl” a well-known voice cut her short.  
“Hello… Bobby” she answered hesitantly.  
“You’re shy now or what?” he wanted to know briskly when she hadn’t continued to talk. “Listen, I could actually use your help.” She could imagine the sassy demanding look on his face.  
“Oh, something only a meteorologist can help you with?” She tried to sound as confident and smug as possible. “Then tell me.”

He laughed. “Not quite. Listen up, weathergirl, I know your mother is a nurse and I guess you learned one or another thing from her. I got bitten by a fucking dog…”  
“With a dog bite you should definitely go to a hospital.” It was her turn to interrupt now and was about to hang up.  
  
  
  
“Oh no, it’s not that wild, but I don’t trust my idiotic brothers to take care of that.” He could also ask Sofi but he’d rather swallow his tongue. It’s been a too good excuse to call her to let it pass. And after he had learned from “la vida loca” that her mother was in fact a nurse, it had turned into a perfect excuse.  
“Okay…” her voice coming from the speaker, “wait a sec.”  
From what he could hear, it seemed she had hurried into a big building and talked to somebody.  
In a moment she was back on the phone. “Where are you?” she asked, being a little out of breath.  
  
That was not quite what he had expected. What his expectations were, he didn’t know completely himself. Maybe not that she’d drop whatever she was doing and be on her way without batting an eye just to help a stranger.  
Or maybe it was the fact that she didn’t know where his mother’s house was. After calling him by his name he’d expected her to know him a little. Maybe too little. Had he expected her to wait for his call since their encounter at that bar?  
He was a little peeved about himself for thinking like this, so he pushed his thoughts to a far corner of his mind.  
He told her the address, at least she seemed to know the street name and didn’t ask for further details.  
“Gimme twenty minutes” she said. “Do I need to bring something?”  
“Na, we have plenty of this dressing materials stuff here. See you, weathergirl.”  
  
  
  
Then he hung up. Before she had a reply to this constant ‘weathergirl’. She cursed under her breath when she realized this could remain her nickname forever. Oh, just you wait, you dipshit, I’ll show you what a weathergirl is capable of.  
With a grim look on her face she drove off.  
Luckily, a friend could take Judy home after the service since Melissa had to take the car now. She had told her mother that a minor but urgent incident prevented her from attending the service, no it had nothing to do with work nor with a friend of Melissa’s her mother knew, and the older one should not be worried. But knowing her mother, she would definitely worry about her only child.

Even though she had seen the majority of Detroit’s streets Melissa had to concentrate on her way not to get lost and she had limited time to wonder how Bobby got bitten by a dog. But actually, she wasn’t surprised, Sofi had told her the night before last that he was a guy who magically attracted trouble.  
Shortly she wondered who took care of his injuries prior to this day until she suddenly remembered that he had lost his mother a few days earlier. For a second, she was ashamed of herself for thinking like this, then the road conditions needed her full attention. Winter in Detroit was long, hard and cold. Last night the temperatures had again dropped far below the freezing point, and still hadn’t risen above 23 degrees Fahrenheit on this sunny morning.

Soon she arrived at her destination. For a moment she stayed in the car, she had seen skid marks in the snow, a car had parked here shortly. But now it was nowhere to be seen. She took another glance at the house and wondered how she had imagined the house the Mercer brothers had spent their youth in. Somewhat more shabbily. But on the other hand, it had also been Evelyn Mercer’s house, it suited a lady.

A motion behind one window on the upper floor drew Melissa’s attention there. It was Sofi who was waving boisterously.  
With a deep sigh Melissa got out of the car and locked the driver’s door. Then she skipped up the stairs to the overhanging porch where the still bugged Sofi greeted her at the front door.

“Dios mio, you’re here at last, Melissa”, the younger woman muttered in a low tone. “I have no idea what happened last night but I’m sure they did something awfully stupid otherwise nobody would be hurt! And he won’t let me take care of it!”  
Melissa looked at her in surprise. “He didn’t seem to be that bad injured on the phone”, she answered with an evenly low voice. She knew Sofi well enough to know that there was a good reason to be quiet when the other one talked this low.  
“Oh, of course he’s playing the badass macho again, el estúpido.”  
The dark-haired woman made a gesture for Melissa to follow her onto the upper floor and led her into the bathroom to the medicine cabinet.

She skimmed the collection of boxes, bottles and pots, before she took a disinfectant and ointment. It was expired but still better than no anti-inflammatory drug. Other dressing material was to be found in the first-aid kit downstairs in the kitchen, Sofi assured.

“Ey Sofi”, they heard a voice shouting from the lower floor, “whose car is there outside? Who got here, your secret lover? Is Angel’s cock insufficient for you?”  
Melissa recognized the voice immediately. Of course, it was him. But she hadn’t expected him to be so rude to his brother’s girlfriend, especially when it was very likely this brother was around.

“Bobby, you’re such a stupid asshole!” the petite Latina screamed as she stormed out of the bathroom before some Spanish insults followed which Melissa didn’t understand. Angel must have come from one of the other rooms on the upper floor, a third voice joined the shouting and was trying to calm everyone down.  
The sounds seemed to be moving into the living room, and when Melissa had descended the staircase halfway and could observe what was happening in that room, Sofi had apparently calmed down enough to be led into the adjacent room out of Melissa’s field of vision.

When she now reached the living room, it was only him in there. He had his back turned to the doorway and glanced at the dining room where the muffled voices of Angel and Sofi where audible.  
Bewildered Melissa stopped in her movement, she hadn’t expected him to be… well, ‘half-naked’? at least his upper body wasn’t dressed. Had she ever seen him without his leather jacket? At most when he was wearing his hockey jersey.

“No mercy?” Her intention had been to make a statement, but it sounded like a question.  
Bobby spun around. “Melissa” he stated and didn’t sound astonished at last what she definitely would have liked. At least he had called her by her name and not weathergirl. That was something, she decided.

“Now, where is your owie, Bobby ‘no mercy’ Mercer?” She cocked her head. She had no clue where this confidence was coming from, maybe because he used her name. Maybe it was because Sofi had told her of his refusal to let the Latina take care of the bite – that could mean she had some kind of privilege. Maybe it was a mixture of both or something completely different.

He now turned fully to her and for the tiniest second her gaze wandered to his broad muscular chest. She hoped he hadn’t captured that but she didn’t believe that her glance slipped his attention. To not let her brought up confidence fall apart, she shifted her weight from one leg to the other expectantly.  
When he approached her with three long steps, one or two pieces of her confidence shrank away.

With a hint of satisfaction Bobby recognized the flicker of insecurity in her eyes. Very fascinating how she could be so confident in one minute and the next…  
How she had looked at him from the doorway, her posture and the medical utensil in her hands, that woman was the one from the TV. Knows everything, can do anything – like the business barbie doll but in real life. But as soon as the cameras were off, as soon as she was confronted with reality – or his person – something changed. Like a lever had been moved and her façade started to crumble.  
“Step in” he smirked and wanted to make a welcoming gesture when a pain in his arm surged up and he remembered how it had been possible for him to lure her into this house. He tried to play it cool, hoped it had slipped her attention but didn’t believe it.

“This way.” He went ahead into the dining room where he expected to meet Sofi and Angel but the room was empty. On the table lay some contents from the first-aid kit which Evelyn had always refilled. His thoughts drifted away for a moment and he remembered how often his mother had tended the minor injuries that incurred when playing hockey.  
He took a seat at the front end und looked expectantly at the woman who slowly stepped closer.


	5. Something very stupid

When she sat down next to this man she had gathered as much confidence as there was to be found. Sadly, it wasn’t as much as she had hoped but it was enough.  
The arm he held into her direction definitely showed carnivore bite marks, next to a tattooed sun or a woman’s head. Even though she could directly look at it she didn’t get the hang of the motive.  
Silently she began to do for what she came here. Her mother had taught her enough about bites that she knew it needed to be cleaned, then disinfected and at last dressed.  
She guessed he had already done the cleaning part in the shower since he smelled like a mixture of aromatic and clean. So she continued with the disinfectant. Careful, but not to careful, she dabbed the bite off with a soaked cotton ball.  
  


“Ouch” Bobby exclaimed, “that hurts.”  
Melissa had to refrain from grinning. “Oh, come on, no mercy Mercer, don’t be such a pussy.”  
But she knew very well how much this did hurt. When she was a girl, she got also bitten by a dog on her way home from school. It hadn’t been the deepest wound but at that age everything felt way more dramatic than it actually had been. But she remembered the burning pain of the disinfectant in the bite very lively and how her mother had to comfort her.  
“And what made the dog bite you?” she asked while taking care of the wound further.  
He grumbled something incomprehensible. “You really want to know?” She just nodded and dabbed the bite again. “That happens if you ask the inconvenient questions or go head-to-head with the wrong guys.” He leaned over the table, closer to her. “We’ve been very bad boys… AH!”  
With his last words she had pressed the cotton ball firmly onto the bite.  
  


“Ay yo, police in the house!” they heard Angel yell from the living room.  
  


“Quick, cover it up” Bobby hissed, when the woman now looked at him with a mixture of surprise, alarm and fear. “Hurry up.”  
Apparently, she had not fully believed him, when he told her, he was bad company. Surely, she had grown up so sheltered, she never had gotten into a stop and search. He bet she only had to deal with the cops when her cat ran off or some likewise bullshit. What would her reaction be when she learned, that two of his brothers and he himself had shot two men the night before?  
  


But she had followed his instructions and quickly wrapped his forearm with a bandage. Right after her fixing the ends properly he shoved her to the small pantry next to the kitchen.  
“Now hide” he commanded her. “Or shall the cops associate me with you?”  
  


She shook her head hastily. “What do they want?” she whispered unbelievingly, nervous. She really didn’t know what kind of man she had gotten herself involved with in some strange and bizarre way.  
“We Mercers have a reputation” he pulled up the corners of his mouth, but it didn’t look like a normal grin, it was a predatory one.  
Then he grabbed a bathrobe with a floral pattern, that hung on the inside of the pantry door.  
“Not one sound” he warned Melissa before he nudged the door close.  
  


Holy crap, what was she thinking? She had in fact known it was a very stupid idea to let Bobby Mercer have her phone number. Well, only talking to him or even looking at him had been a shitty idea. And she had still done it. Was this an early midlife crisis? Instead of getting an overpriced sports car and hooking up with a high school senior, she let herself be dragged into the obscure personal vendetta of a man she didn’t have the faintest idea of how dangerous he really was.  
Cautious she peeked through the gap between door and frame that had remained open.  
  


She nearly missed when one of the police men – he was called Lieutenant Greene by everyone – asked about Bobby’s car. Ah yes, she had also noticed there was a car missing.  
“He left it at Jeremiah’s” Sofi asserted and Angel went on about how safe a Volvo was.  
Without acknowledging that Lt. Greene’s partner directed the conversation to two contract killers that had been found dead this morning.  
Even though he pretended to have evidence, Bobby stayed cool, perfect poker face. But Melissa had to press her palm to her mouth to muffle a startled scream. Should this be true that he and his brothers had an involvement into these deaths?  
She really had absolutely no clue who he really was, what he had done, where he had been the past years.  
  
She missed how the discussion went on until the voices grew louder and Greene stopped a starting fight. Then he addressed Bobby directly. “Don’t try to take on Detroit on your damn self” he warned the man on the sofa. That definitely sounded like a vendetta because of his mother’s death. Melissa didn’t know what to make of this discovery. It would be best to get lost immediately before she got dragged into things that were none of her business. Yet she couldn’t move and was still crouched down with her hands pressed to her mouth next to that doorframe.  
“You keep knocking on the devil’s door long enough and sooner or later someone’s gonna answer you.” With this last advice the policemen left the Mercer home.  
  


Like a deer in the headlights Melissa glared at Bobby when he tore the door open. He carelessly had thrown the bathrobe over one of the kitchen chairs. Her glasses had gotten out of place, she had shied away from him into the farthest corner of the pantry. It was just one step but she felt like she and him were as far apart as possible on earth. The had nothing in common except this city.  
“You killed somebody?” Her voice trembled with fear. “Is that how you got hurt?”  
“I did what had to be done” he answered. Not a yes or a no, no explanation and no justification. Nothing that could help her to make a well-founded decision. But the way he looked at her stirred something in her she didn’t know she was capable of feeling.  
“What am I supposed to do now?” she cried in despair.  
  


With one big step he reached her and grabbed her arms so she wouldn’t slump down.  
“Why don’t you do something you usually do?” he suggested in an unusual empathetical. She stared at him with big eyes.  
“What I usually do” she echoed awkwardly and slowly blinked. He loosened his grip. “I don’t even know anymore what I usually do. I’ve done so many strange things the last few days and giving you my phone number was the most stupid thing – no, answering my phone even though I told you not to call me, that was the most stupid thing.” The words just burst out. Then she looked him right in the eyes. “And to make things worse, I can’t stop thinking of something very stupid.” There was a shift in her gaze.  
  


“What is it?” He swallowed hard. She had a feeling he knew very well what she was talking about.  
Then she stretched just enough and, before she could change her mind, she met his lips with hers. Briefly, gently, tenderly, feathery. Like the touch of a butterfly’s wing.  
He didn’t react. She withdrew herself from him and kept her gaze to the floor.  
“I… this… I’m sorry, that was a mistake” she mumbled and wanted to free herself from his grasp.  
  


His fingers dug deep into her skin, he pulled her close, his right hand slipped to her neck, beneath this wonderfully soft hair, he held her head still, pressed his lips onto hers. This was nothing like a butterfly, this was a predator having captured his prey. Rough, raw, harsh – and entirely real.  
She let out a surprised squeak, and her mouth opened the tiniest bit. At once he used this to his advantage and intensified their kiss. Her lips were so soft, softer than he had imagined.  
She staggered, presumably overwhelmed with all these conflicting feelings. Pluckily he grabbed her with his left hand, only to realize seconds later he held one of her butt cheeks. But before he could let her go, she had clasped her legs around his hips.  
  


Desire surged up, he felt his blood rush to a certain part of his body, but his jeans contained him somewhat. Her fingernails dug into the naked skin on his back, her thighs latched on to him. He had to use his right hand to support her fully, still they stumbled against the shelf behind her. She wrapped her arms around his neck to not lose her footing.  
They separated, he panted, she gasped for air.  
“I wanted to do this the minute I saw you on screen.” His voice was low and coarse, and surprised himself with this honesty.  
  


She blushed. The painless pain underneath her navel and between her legs made it hard to think strait.  
“And… and what now?” she whispered, barely audible, but he surely had understood her. Their faces were only half an inch apart, but none of them brought themselves to make eye contact.  
What now. After this moment, she definitely mustn’t be associated with Bobby Mercer.  
But he had this charisma and an attraction she hadn’t been able to resist moments ago. There was this tension between them. And he felt it to apparently.  
  
Carefully he let her down and tried to inconspicuously adjust his waistband. But it wasn’t easy to hide the effect this kiss had had.  
“Well…” Did she hear faint embarrassment in his voice?  
  


And then he just ditched her. As if the last two minutes didn’t happen.  
Baffled she followed him with her eyes when he left the kitchen. It took a moment of recollection, before she adjusted her shirt and cleaned her classes on the hemline. She tried to encourage herself, grabbed her bag and hastily left the scene.  
For a moment she stopped, yelled “Don’t you ever call me again, Bobby Mercer”, and stormed out of the door.  
  


He was just another idiot, like any other man she ever had developed feelings for.  
Furious about how quickly she had given in to desire, she jumped into the car. The engine roared when she sped off.


	6. Twists of Fate

Because he always ‘started with that bullshit’ he didn’t get a girlfriend. That was what Sofi kept saying, but of course Bobby didn’t believe her.  
No, the reason for him not having a girlfriend where completely different. Most of the time his female acquaintances weren’t that well matched as he originally thought upon meeting them for the first time. Maybe it was because their looks got him so distracted, he only realized they were as dumb as a post when he was thinking with his head again.  
Other girls had repellent ideas of what they wanted their man to be like. And the next kind only wanted to make their ex-boyfriend jealous. Those were the worst. He didn’t even want to get started on the ladies with enough personal drama for five people.  
He had caught himself thinking about another life in the last few weeks. A normal, bourgeois life with a wife and children. Until now it had been out of the question, because he didn’t believe he could keep himself out of trouble long enough. And growing up without a father had been such a formative experience, he didn’t want to force that onto a child.  
But if he met the right woman… maybe there was a chance.  
  


He glanced back to the collection of arms, which he and Jack hat spread on the dining room table. Sofi was railing in the kitchen and Angel was nowhere to be found.  
And now of all things Jerry joined the scene, whose involvement into the investigations was barely there.  
“Hey Bobby” Jack handed him the small digital camera. “They were tracking Mum.” They clicked through the next pictures. “That’s that lawyer guy” the youngest Mercer recognized the man next to their mother on one picture. “That shithead said, he said he only met her once.”  
“Let’s go” Bobby decided. He liked to follow new evidence as quick as possible, even though it was Sunday evening.  
  


He had tried to call Melissa in the afternoon. He knew it hadn’t been okay to ditch her right there, but he couldn’t have helped himself. There was something else, besides that desire for a woman, and he didn’t know if he could face that already. On the other hand, he didn’t want to destroy the chance of ever seeing her again.  
It didn’t surprise him the slightest, that she didn’t answer her phone.  
  


“Have I not told you clearly not to call me?” she snapped into the speaker when the phone rang for the third time in quick succession. She had recognized the Mercers landline.  
“No, this is Sofi” the answer came from the other end. “But these stupid idiots are about to do una estulticia, you must come. Please.”  
Melissa stayed quiet for a long moment. “If it must be” she replied finally.  
Sofi quickly told her where and then hung up.  
  


The location wasn’t far away from her parent’s house. These had already gone to bed, so Melissa did her best to quietly put on a warm coat and left the house.  
It was a ten-minute walk and she got there just the moment when Sofi angrily slammed an old VW’s horn and yelled Angel’s name.  
But before she had reached the other woman, another car pulled up to the driveway. It seemed to be the homeowner.  
Melissa kept to the fence on the property line from where she actually had a quite good look on the scene. She barely heard anything, but she could clearly perceive that the man, whom Bobby had dragged out of his car, told the brothers something which they had not expected.  
No, she wouldn’t get involved into that, that was Mercer business. Apparently, the situation solved itself.  
  


He just had turned around to leave – the clue had been useless – when he spotted Melissa next to the fence. Why was she here? Unhurriedly he walked into her direction.  
When she also spotted him, she turned on her heel and hastened away. “Fuck” he cursed under his breath and glanced back over his shoulder, but no one payed attention to him. With a quicker pace he followed her.  
She also glanced back and accelerated her steps when she saw he was still on her heels.  
“Hey” he called loud enough for her to hear but not to draw attention from a third party. But she didn’t stop. He started to jog. His target also started to run. Bobby rolled his eyes internally and sprinted to finally catch her.  
  


He had miscalculated his speed and tackled Melissa into the next pile of snow. The woman fought him with tooth and nail, flailed.  
“Leave me alone” she spat angrily and he could sense the hurt and anger in her voice.  
“No, listen, let me explain” he tried to calm her, but her movements became more violent. “Stop it now, for fuck’s sake!”  
“Why?” she snapped back and glared at him with her grey-blue eyes. “So you can ditch me again like a fucking idiot?”  
She had stopped her flailing and so he let go of her. She jumped up immediately and wiped the snow off her clothes.  
  


“Melissa, please let me explain” he tried again but she cut him short with an abrupt gesture. “Not now, okay?”  
He swallowed hard. Had he already destroyed everything? Even before there was something to destroy?  
“Ok, when?” His voice sounded like he was far far away.  
She avoided his eyes. “I… I don’t know, Bobby. I need some time.”  
He stepped closer but she still kept her eyes fixed on a spot somewhere behind him. He ran his hand through her tousled hair, put a strand behind her ear. He saw the goose bumps on her skin, the fine hackles rising.  
He bent to her, her jaw tensed and she turned her head, so his lips just brushed the corner of her mouth. She clenched her teeth even more.  
“I’m sorry” he muttered when she turned away and ditched him now.  
  


After that the investigations made themselves independent and Bobby had only a handful of moments to think about Melissa. Until the moment, when Victor Sweet’s henchmen showed up and shot Jack.  
When he lay behind this brick wall and tried to kill as many scumbags as possible, he thought of Melissa. Wondered, where she was, wat she was doing. She wasn’t the kind of girl that one got involved into things like these, and he was glad he knew she was doing fine in a safe place.  
  


For the whole Monday she had avoided thinking of Bobby – or this one moment full of attraction in the pantry, of what she had told no one, not even Rebecca. Instead, she had gotten herself buried under a huge amount of work, even worked overtime.  
But when she got notice of a shooting on that street the Mercers lived at on Tuesday, her thoughts were all about this. Was Bobby doing okay? She had heard that some injuries had occurred and people had died. Unfortunately, she only had a landline number, which had been busy all the time or gone dead, and she didn’t know if Bobby cell phone number. She actually doubted he owned one.  
She already had talked to Rebecca who knew nothing else.  
  
The minute her working hours were met, she rushed out of the broadcasting building. She had gotten there by car in the morning luckily and so she drove as quickly as possible under the circumstances of weather and traffic to the Mercer address. But she didn’t get close to the house, there were policemen and curious on-lookers everywhere. She parked on a side street and ran the remaining distance. Melissa just caught Lt. Greene leaving the scene. Several black body bags were removed.  
There they were, sitting on the steps in front of the porch. Bobby, Jeremiah, Angel and Sofi. They seemed to be unharmed. But one was missing, where was Jack?  
She hastily stumbled onwards.  
  


When he heard the hasty steps, he looked up and saw Melissa white as a ghost stumbling towards him. “Bobby…” Her voice failed her.  
He had gotten up and reached her with a few steps. He couldn’t help himself and hugged her tightly. Just to hold her, smell her scent.  
“I’m so glad you’re fine” he whispered and pressed her to his chest. He caught her shivering. A few minutes passed without one of them speaking.  
Then her voice worked again. “Of course I’m doing fine” she managed to say, “but what about you? Where is Jack?”  
Upon mentioning his brother, his dead brother his hug grew tighter and he just shook his head, too afraid to use his voice. And so they remained in this silent hug. That was everything he needed at the moment. Somebody who held him. Somebody he could hold.  
  


He nearly missed when it got dark and cold. At some point Melissa had started humming, what had calmed him somehow, and he swayed somewhat to the rhythm to avoid freezing.  
When it got completely dark outside, she slowly guided him to the house. It was strange, he was a badass guy, who always functioned. Like a machine. But now he was missing a gear wheel or something and he couldn’t go on. A giant hole had been torn open from the loss of his mother first, and now his brother.  
He let himself be guided by her, gently but certain. She led him up the stairs, into his mother’s former bedroom. He was so cold. It was so empty. He started to shiver uncontrollably.  
As soon as the door closed behind them, everything feeling he had pushed away surfaced. The sorrow, the rage, the helplessness, it rushed over him like a big wave and he collapsed on the floor.  
  


“It’s okay, let it out.” Her voice was as tender, soft and comforting as her hands, that caressed his head and back.  
He couldn’t tell how long they had been sitting there on the floor, how long she had been holding him. It seemed to be an eternity. But eventually his sobbing became less, and he could see that tears had streamed down her face.  
Slowly he got up, helped her stand up, and drew her to the bathroom. It had gotten late, downstairs he heard Jeremiah on the phone. He just had organized a funeral and now had to take care of the next. In between Sofi’s and Angel’s voices.  
Jack’s desperate screams resonated in his head. He had called for him, not Jerry or Angel. He had let him down, his little brother. Victor Sweet would pay for that.  
  


The pattering of water came to his ears. Melissa had turned on the shower. A hot shower would do him god. He hadn’t recognized that she had already undressed herself and started now undressing him. He helped her like in trance and followed her under the hot water.


	7. Findings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, this Chapter definitely is rated M, because of language. I don’t think I’ve ever written variations of “to fuck so.” this often.

She had sensed that he needed somebody who consoled him, somebody who didn’t judge him for his feelings, somebody who would catch him, if he fell. When she noticed he slowly cooled down beneath her caressing fingers, she had taken him into the bathroom for a hot shower.  
When – no, if she ever told anybody about these minutes in the shower, the first question probably would be what it was like to fuck Bobby Mercer. And then she would have to explain, that nothing X-Rated had happened.  
She had helped him to wash himself, towel himself off and had sent him straight to bed. When she had checked if he really had gone to bed, he had been fast asleep already. It had been a very exhausting day.  
  


Melissa dragged herself down the stairs, debris from the shooting lay around everywhere in the house. It would take some time and effort to repair.  
In the living room, Jeremiah, Angel and Sofi sat, still somehow numbed with shock like Melissa herself. When she entered the room, Jerry jumped up from his seat and approached her. “I haven’t introduced myself yet, I’m Jerry.” He offered her his hand. She shook it and smiled hesitantly. “Melissa.”  
“Sofi already told us a few things about you”, Angel tried to sound as normal as possible for a person who lost mother and brother in short time. “Bobby never introduced his girlfriend to us voluntarily.”  
Melissa swallowed. “We – well, I’m not his girlfriend” she explained and tried to consider what she actually was in relation to him. “Technically, I’m just a ‘weathergirl’ who does not want to be called.”  
  


An awkward silence sprawled through the room, and Melissa didn’t quite know what to do. She just wanted to go home actually, to have a good cry and then go to bed. She also didn’t want to look like she didn’t care about Jack’s death. But sitting down somewhere here seemed presumptuous.  
“I’ll…” she started but didn’t know what she wanted to express. “Heck, this is some crazy fuck-up” she mumbled instead and tuned to leave.  
“If you want to talk” Jerry offered, “we’re here. It barely ever happens that Bobby let’s somebody get close to him, and whoever manages belongs to family.” Melissa gave him a tortured smile. “Thanks, but I really need to go home now, I have to work early tomorrow.”  
  


She already hat taken a few steps towards the perforated door, when she heard Jerry’s voice again. He stood in the living room’s doorway. “We’re serious about that” he repeated, “if somebody manages to get past Bobby’s surface, that person is family.”  
Her hand rested on the door handle. “I don’t think I got close to Bobby” Melissa replied. “I just happened to be there when he needed someone.”  
Jerry laughed drily. “The Bobby I know never let’s the opportunity to fuck some pussy slip, whoever died. Did you fuck in the shower?”  
  


Melissa didn’t believe her ears. “Ehm” she blushed and adjusted her glasses, “I don’t think that is any of your business.” She couldn’t believe that he – a father to two daughters – talked to her like this. But he still was a Mercer.  
Angel got next to his brother. “He’s right, if Bobby doesn’t shag a cooz on the first opportunity, she’s something special.” Melissa felt more blood rush to her ears, her cheeks were burning. She bet her face was as red as a friggin’ traffic light.  
“I thank you both for these extremely fascinating findings concerning Bobby Mercer” she managed to bring her lips to speak. Then she fled into the night. She couldn’t take more findings now.  
  


Her parents had already gone to bed, of course. Melissa felt sorry because she barely had spent time with them in the last days. But wasn’t this what her mother had wanted for her?  
The first weeks after the stroke and Melissa’s return home from university her mother had suggested she’d leave the house more often. She still was young and should enjoy life more. Her help around the house was more than welcome but she should not forget to have fun and lose her zest for life. But Melissa hadn’t felt like back then and soon Judy had given up to encourage her daughter.  
Carefully she tiptoed up the stairs, quickly brushed her teeth and went to bed.  
  


However, these last words from Jeremiah and Angel kept her awake. Maybe there was more truth to it than she had believed at first?  
When he had kissed her, in the pantry, did he have something else in his mind, besides taking what he wanted? And that he had wanted to fuck her had been very obvious. Her thigh prickled where she had felt his hard boner through his jeans. What would have happened if she had opened his trousers instead of wrapping her arms around his neck?  
Something between her legs cramped, like a sweet pain. Softly, the fingertips of her left hand brushed the inside of her thigh and she imagined, it was him. A low moan escaped her and she bit her lower lip.  
  


No, she shouldn’t think about, what it would feel like to have sex with Bobby Mercer. How he would fuck her, rough and harsh, but with true desire, accordingly to his temper. Maybe he would push her down onto his car’s hood, pull up her skirt and take her from behind until she screamed his name in ecstasy.  
Holy shit, from what dark corner of her subconsciousness came this fantasy? But she couldn’t deny, she was turned on by these thoughts. She wanted to fuck Bobby.  
  


She cursed herself for being carried away from these thoughts, because now she definitely wouldn’t be able to fall asleep without satisfying her needs first. She searched her nightstand and drew a pink dildo out. With the help of this sex toy and her engine hood fantasy it didn’t take her long, and finally she was able to indulge in to sleep.  
  


The next morning was surreal. It was so strange to wake up in his mother’s bedroom. It had been a week since she’d been in here the last time and still her scent lingered. He had to fight back his tears.  
He struggled to get out of bed. He passed Jack’s old room on his way to the bathroom and the painful memory of the second loss hit him. Benumbed he got into the shower, not because it was necessary, but because he could have a hearty cry without being witnessed.  
About half an hour later he felt soaked through enough to turn the water off again. Another ten minutes later he was dressed and on his way to the kitchen. Somewhere between washing his hair and crying his stomach had grumbled too hungrily to be ignored.  
  


In the kitchen he met Jerry to his surprise, who sat there and kneaded his peaked cap lost in thought, the coffee cup in front of him half way empty.  
When his older brother entered the room, he looked up. Something in the way he looked a him, told Bobby that the worst news hadn’t been announced yet. He poured himself a cup of coffee, no milk or sugar, and also sat down at the kitchen table.  
  


“What happened” Bobby asked straightforwardly. He was tired of bad things happening without him being able to control it.  
Jerry looked back to the cap in his hands and picked up a lint. “Greene got shot.”  
Damn. Why did he have to had stirred up the hornets’ nest without a counterinsurance to find the mole at the station. Victor Sweet’s involvement into local politics and relations to the executive wasn’t to be untangled so easily.  
“He’ll be entombed tomorrow, like Jack” Jerry explained further.  
It began to dawn on Bobby, what Jerry had to take care of during the last week. “Thanks man” he patted his brother’s shoulder.  
They drank their coffee in silence until Angel appeared without ‘la vida loca’ and joined them.  
  


“We met your cute little weathergirl last night” he grinned with his spotless white teeth. Bobby remembered exactly the disgust in her voice when it came to that word. He had called her that, because it provoked a reaction. “Yeah man, why didn’t you introduce her to us earlier?” Jerry followed the change of topic.  
“Maybe because she isn’t my fucking girlfriend” the oldest Mercer brother countered and hoped they would stop here.  
“Oh, come on” Angel taunted further, “we know you haven’t showed her, who the boss is.” He suggestively wiggled his eyebrows. “Not like I showed Sofi who wears the breeches so she knows whose girl she is.”  
“That cutie sure is completely confused ‘cause she don’t know if you want her pussy or not” Jerry intervened again. “You definitely should clarify that, before she jumps onto another fucker’s cock.” Even though he conveyed the perfect citizen to the public he still was a Mercer and didn’t retain from mocking his brothers.  
“Fuck you both” Bobby bristled and left the kitchen through the back door.  
  


He passed the pantry and remembered what had happened between Melissa and him three days ago. It seemed to have happened in another life, where they had been four brothers. A life where it seemed to be possible to solve the entanglement that had led to their mother’s execution. A life where he hadn’t sworn to bury Victor Sweet. And still, it only had been three days ago.  
He had always thought he still had enough time left. Time to accomplish whatever he wanted in life. Jack, little Jackie, he also had thought he had all the time in the world. He had wanted to become a Rockstar. And now, it all had been taken from him, erased from one moment to the other. A life full of hope and goals had been ended, before it even had begun. A life made been possible by the greatest foster mom of all.  
  


Bobby felt a sharp pain in his palm. Appalled he found his fingernails had dug deeply into his skin while he had clenched his fist so tight that his knuckles had turned white.  
No, whatever he wanted to accomplish in life, he should start soon. And he would start with his weathergirl. So profane Jerry had expressed himself there still was some truth to it. He definitely should wipe the slate clean. Was it possible she actually had a boyfriend and only got involved with him out of curiosity?  
For not to get tangled up in speculations, he dialed Melissa’s cellphone number, he knew it by heart at this point. He couldn't count the times he had dialed her number and then not called her with two hands anymore. Impatiently he waited for the dial tone, but she didn’t answer the call. He tried it two more times, but only to get redirected to her voice mail. He glanced at the time splenetic. What was so important on a Wednesday about noon that she couldn’t answer her phone?  
Then he remembered who different her life was compared to his, she existed in a completely different reality where normal people worked at this time of the day. She surely was also at work.  
  


Since he hadn’t left a message on her voice mail the typed a short text.  
_“Melissa, I need to see you. Bobby”_  
Now he only could wait for her reply.


	8. No, I don't wanna fall in love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!  
> In this chapter there’ll be a passage, where our protagonists listen to a song. I don’t want to write down the lyrics, because I think it interrupts the reading flow. Therefore, you should listen to this song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vKsSGyQf-M) two to three times beforehand, and for best experience also during that scene. The movie this song was part of is also mentioned briefly.  
> Some other songs I listened to while writing the original story in German are listed in this playlist (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9YYRjNi84yfJVlXPQpaoY_ROqUkFEckU). I’ll include a vague timeline with the songs and why they inspired me in the last chapter, I think.

Melissa’s lunch break was just over when she discovered three missed calls from a number, she didn’t know, on her cell phone. It hadn’t been Mercer landline for sure, because she had added that number to her directory as “Don’t answer!”.  
She was about to put the phone away and to continue to put the forecast data into the computer system, when the phone buzzed again and showed a new text message, sent by the same unknown number. Now she’d gotten curious. She pressed the button, and the message appeared on the small screen.  
“ _Melissa, I need to see you. Bobby_ ”  
  
She immediately dropped the phone as if it had burned her hands. With a clattering noise it came to rest on her desk, with the display up, so she still was confronted with this message.  
Angel and Jerry had to conjure it up last night at all costs. Until then she had been quite sure Bobby thought she was interesting, but not that interesting. He just had wanted to test how far she’d go, hadn’t he? Hadn’t he?  
Footsteps came closer and Melissa quickly cramped the phone into her purse.  
  


During the next two hours she didn’t have one minute to herself, so she couldn’t come up with an answer and sent it. Before she had ben able to enter all the data, the bosses had convened all employees for an important meeting. It was about committing everybody to the stressful Christmas season. During this time the most airtime was sold and the people watched more TV, because they spent more time at home when it got dark earlier.  
Luckily this didn’t apply to News and the adherent departments Stock Exchange and Weather, which had the same amount of work during the whole year.  
  


After the meeting, Melissa couldn’t contain herself any longer. As inconspicuously as possible she grabbed her phone and tried to walk to the restrooms as normal as she could. Only after she had closed the door behind her she dared to breathe again. She noticed just now that she had held her breath.  
Her heart was in her mouth, when she opened the text message with trembling fingers and started to type her response.  
  


Because the meeting wasn’t important for her work, her thoughts had drifted away and she had compared the pros and cons. And even though there were a little more cons, her gut feeling told her to go for it.  
  


“ _Quitting time is at half past 4, you can pick me up then._ ” She included the building’s address thoughtfully.  
She heard the blood rushing in her ears when she hit the ‘Send’ button. A terribly long minute passed, then his answer appeared on the screen. “I’ll be there.” It seemed he’d just been waiting for her message.  
When she got out of the stall, her reflection met her glance with glowing cheeks and an undeniable smile. She put down her glasses on the sink’s rim and splashed cold water into her face. She waited for a moment for the redness to disappear from her face, then she returned to her desk.  
  


Time passed awfully slowly and the closer the hand on the clock got to 4:30 pm the more nervous Melissa got. Her heart began to beat so forcefully, she grew worried everybody on the floor could hear it.  
Five minutes early of her quitting time she became so impatient, she dropped everything, grabbed coat and purse and hastened out of the office. She called for the elevator several times, but around this time of the day it was somewhat busy. She couldn’t wait so she took the stairs and went down all eight floors by foot. Her footwear wasn’t optimal for this, but she couldn’t definitely care less right now.  
Hurried she pushed open the front door and looked the sidewalk up and down. There she saw him, leaned against the side of an old car, arms crossed. Spontaneously her legs turned to jelly.  
  


Since Bobby had received her answer, he had run in circles through the house. Nothing could derogate his high spirits, not even Sofi’s presence or the fact that he would bury his little brother tomorrow.  
The later it got, the more restless he became, until Angel was fed up und kicked him out. Because he had crashed his car the other night during the car chase and hadn’t been able to take care of the repair yet, he had taken Evelyn’s car. It was a very similar model. Actually, he only had gotten his car, because it reminded him of his mother. How many dialogues he had held with his mother in silence in his car. Wherever he went, his car was his home.  
  


To kill time, he had driven through the city in crisscross, until he couldn’t stand it any longer around four o’clock and drove to the address, she had texted him. He had parked in front of the building where the company logo shone forth, and walked around the block until waiting made him crazy. Twenty past four the clock told him. Should he get back into the car and pretend, he had just arrived? He didn’t want to seem to be desperate after all. But maybe she’d think then, he wasn’t serious about their… ‘date’. He could pick her up at her office. He had already entered the lobby when he realized he didn’t know on which floor her office was.  
Indecisive about what to do now, he paused one moment, before he decided, it would be best to wait at the car.  
  


He had just leaned against the passenger side when Melissa stepped out of the front door and looked around seeking him.  
He took in every detail about her, like she moved in slow-motion. Her blonde ponytail seesawing, her wrinkling her nose she used to push up the glasses a little, how she adjusted the strap of her purse on her shoulder. Then she discovered him and he could read every emotion on her face. A mixture of nervousness, delight, fear and curiosity, with a tiny bit desire. He knew right on, how she felt, because he felt the same thing in this exact moment when their eyes met.  
  


She approached him with quick wobbly steps, he pushed himself away from the car, before she stopped an armlength away.  
“Hey” she muttered and glanced down to her toe-cap drawing circles in the remaining snow on the sidewalk.  
“Hey” he replied, “it’s good to see you.” His words blurted out, before he could think about. Like a switch had been toggled, so he said all the things he thought about. What had happened in the past 24 hours had somehow changed him. For a second his thoughts drifted to Jack, who had been robbed of everything, and that he had to use every second available.  
  


He took her cold hands firmly into his and looked her deep in the eye. He had given lots of thought about what he wanted to tell her, also about how and where.  
“I’ve been thinking” he started, “and I want to talk about it, but there is something I need to do first.” Gently he pulled her closer, so close, until the tips of their noses nearly touched.  
Her scent nearly intoxicated him, the rays of light danced alluringly on the strands of her hair when she moved her head, the sensual curve of her lips hypnotized him. He wanted her so badly, it hurt.  
“May I kiss you?” he whispered just loud enough for her to hear. His question surprised himself as much as her, but it felt right to ask.  
Her nod was so faint, it was barely visible to the public.  
  


This kiss was different. Pure and chaste, gentle and honest, very tender. He felt the incredible softness of her lips, how she huddled herself against him diffidently, her heart beating tempestuously. How she cringed, when he pulled away so cautiously, how she blushed. How her fingers trembled, when he slowly raised one hand and touched her cheek. “God, you’re so beautiful.” Then he kissed her a second time.  
  


“Come” he said, when they had finally managed to detach from each other, and opened the passenger door for her gentlemanlike. After all he had wanted to talk to her, but kissing her was very, very close to what he needed to express.  
With only the engine roaring they went off, before the car radio sprang to life. The song had just begun, and Bobby recognized it immediately. He’d actually been to the movie theater to see ‘Wild at Heart’ back in the days, and this song had left quite an impression. Back then he couldn’t imagine ever being in a similar situation.  
  


He really couldn’t have imagined to ever meet a woman like Melissa. She was so different to everyone he had known. So different to everything he had thought he wanted. It scared him that he might fall in love with her – or be in love already, because the world he lived in would only destroy her. Nevertheless, he couldn’t bring himself to send her away. What if she was the one? What if he could change for her? What if she could accept him the way he was, with all his flaws?  
  


What was this wicked, dangerous game, that he played with her? Was it a game actually? There was a lot at risk, she was sure, that was what she felt. There were these moments in life, where everything was about to be determined, and her instincts told her this would be one of these moments.  
The way he had kissed her, there was something. And now she had to find out what it was, at any cost. Was it worth it? After all, she would have to move into the unknown. Never before she had met someone who fascinated her like Bobby. She barely knew anything about him, only he was the kind of man she’d never have met upon other terms. The kind you better kept away from. And the more her mind told her this man would only be trouble, all the more her heart wanted him.  
  


“Where are you takin’ me?” she finally asked tentative when they had been driving for about ten minutes.  
First, she thought he hadn’t heard her, because there was no answer. But before she could ask a second time, he responded. “To a place, I always enjoyed being at” he replied, “where I always felt safe and went to, whenever I needed some time to be alone.”  
It took another five minutes until they reached a pond a small distance outside downtown Detroit. He nodded to the frozen water body. “This is my favorite spot.”  
  


Melissa didn’t know what she had expected, but definitely not this.  
“Whenever it was to stressful at home I’d come here,” the sentiment in his voice coming from deeply within his heart. “During winter I played hockey alone when I needed to let of steam, and during summer, you can even swim… well, as long you don’t get caught.” He smirked.  
“That sounds great.” She smiled encouragingly. Melissa knew she was about to learn something about Bobby Mercer. Meet a different part of his personality, he’d never shown to anyone before, except maybe his mother. He’d let her get close.  
“You wanna see it?”  
She nodded quietly, and they got out of the car.


	9. A Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve been thinking if Bobby is too OOC here and there, but I think I just show him from an angle we don’t get to see in the movie.

Slowly they strolled around the pond and Melissa listened to every of his words.  
Preferably he’d tell her everything, every detail of his life, every occurrence that made him the man he was today. But he limited it to the most necessary events for her to understand why he acted like this now, why it was so important to him to speak with her.  
“I’ve realized last night that I need to make use of every minute” he explained. “Jack wanted to do so many things, he had plans, and now nothing will come of it.” Upon mentioning his little brother, he had to swallow. “It could have died, maybe even would have if Jerry hadn’t been there” he went on and saw the horror in Melissa’s eyes.  
“That’s why I want to use every second, and I need to know, if us, if you and me… is there a chance?”  
  


With these last words he had focused on the pond, but know he glanced at her. She starred to the horizon where the city lights began to gleam. After some excruciating long heartbeats, she finally turned to him.  
“I don’t know” she answered and he knew it was the truth. “But we can certainly try.” She smiled diffidently.

Such a giant load was never off his mind, except maybe that one time he was able to dodge arrest because of this one thing… He sent a quick prayer to the heavens so that his past wouldn’t catch up with him. That was the last thing on earth he needed right now.  
  


Now the only needed to sort out their matter with Victor Sweet, then he could try to be the man a woman like her deserved.  
“It’s Jack’s funeral tomorrow” his expression darkened, “and then we need to take care of one or two issues.”  
She took his hand in hers and – despite the gloves they both wore – he felt the warmth that emanated from her. “I’m there for you, when you need me.” She squeezed his hand encouragingly and he couldn’t resist the smile that came to his face.  
He hoped he could avoid it at any cost to drag her into one of these issues, but he definitely couldn’t be sure.

When it had turned dark, Bobby had driven her home. He had parked in front of the house and they had been sitting in the car for a few minutes.  
“Do you want me to come tomorrow?” Melissa asked. It’d be a little complicated to take a day off since she had already planned ahead all her leave days, but maybe she could use some of her overtime hours.  
  


Bobby stared into the distance. “No” he said slowly, “that’s Mercer business.”  
She put her hand onto his arm. “Call me if you change your mind, ok?” He only nodded in silence, and she prepared to get out of the car.  
“Wait” he held her back and leaned over a little. Before she could say a word, he kissed her – for the third time today. “Good night, Melissa” she heard him mumble quietly when she finally got out.  
  


Like inebriated she skipped up the stairs to the entrance door, stole a last glance over her shoulder to find he hadn’t left yet, but watched until she was in the house for sure. Diligently she closed the door behind her, when she noticed someone moving from the corner of her eye.  
“Mom” she blurted out in surprise seeing the woman next to the window. “What are you doing there?”  
Instead of answering the question, Judy Stevens stepped closer to her daughter. In her eyes was a mixture of joy, sorrow and worry.  
“Melissa, darling, what are you getting yourself into”, it neither sounded like a question nor like an allegation, only motherly solicitude. “Who is that young man?”

Melissa bit her lower lip to avoid an involuntary smile. “No one, just a… a friend” she answered hurried, what made her mother laugh.  
“Are you sure, darling?” the older woman asked further. “Because it didn’t seem like you’re just a friend to him.”  
  


Her mother had witnessed their kiss, definitely, otherwise she wouldn’t say something like that. Melissa tried to keep her expression neutral. “We still need to find out what it is exactly.” Somehow, she was glad, she no longer had to keep a secret from her mother, because she was sure she’d gone mad if she couldn’t tell someone.  
For a moment she considered also telling Rebecca, but decided otherwise. First, she had to know if her relationship with Bobby Mercer had a future. This time she couldn’t help but smile when she thought of him.  
“I’m so happy for you, dear” her mother said when she hugged her daughter, “but don’t tell your father.”  
  


That was a reasonable advice. Melissa frowned when she remembered that one evening. It had been the first time a boy came to pick her up. It had been so innocent; it was just a good friend who had escorted her to the school dance. But her father had made such a strong impression on that poor fellow, he hadn’t dared to dance with Melissa that evening.  
It had in fact happened a long time before the stroke, but Melissa wasn’t sure if it would kill her father when he learned that his daughter - his good, nice daughter – got herself involved with one of the more dangerous men in Detroit. Or it could burn him up so badly, he would gather the strength to emerge from his wheelchair and chew out the younger one.  
  


This evening the Stevens family had dinner together and the youngest family member had to make quite an effort to behave as normal as possible. But it wasn’t too hard, because the patriarch had regained his usual ill humor und apparently, he wanted to catch up with bullying his wife and daughter.  
But as hard as he tried, he couldn’t spoil Melissa’s good mood.  
  


During his ride home Bobby hadn’t recognized himself. For the first time in ages – hell, in decades he had sung. Sung along to whatever the radio played.  
And he was more shocked when he found this strange, crampy feeling in his face was in fact a big grin that he possibly never could hide. When he shut down the engine he checked in the rearview mirror if this grin was as bad as it felt. Fuck yes, it was. He couldn’t go in like this, that’d be the perfect cause for Angel to tease his older brother and not just a little. And Sofi without fail would suspect something immediately.  
  


He glanced at the mirror on last time before he dragged himself out of the car and climbed the stairs to the back door. The house smelled of whatever Sofi had been cooking and without asking he helped himself to a plate.  
Angel and his girlfriend sat on the dining table, they also had just started, and so he joined them.  
It didn’t take long until he said something, that drove “la vida loca” crazy again. But it was so easy teasing her and if Bobby had one notable skill, it was finding the right thing to drive someone up the pole. But gasoline did the job as well.  
Just when they had finished dinner the third Mercer brother arrived to remind them when he’d pick them up tomorrow.  
  


They had been standing next to an open grave on exact this cemetery just a few days ago, but it felt like it had been long ago. Back then, it had been only been the beginning when they had buried Evelyn. Now her youngest son had followed her onto the other side.  
The memory of him laying there on the ground, shot several times, gave Bobby goosebumps. He hadn’t been screaming for help, just his name, again and again. Bobby.  
  


He was overcome with an uneasy mixture of fury and grief, and he had absolutely no idea what he could do now.  
“Never should have came home” he muttered and shook his head because of his own stupidity. “Never should have came.” His eyes travelled over the framed photographs on the wall where the signs of the shootout were abundantly clear visible.  
“I miss him too.” Angel also sounded deeply affected.  
  


Only Jerry seemed to be somewhat rational. “You can’t go to war with Victor Sweet” he warned his oldest brother. “He’ll just sent more and more men, until we are dead.”  
Bobby had no answer to that and his powerlessness painfully occurred to him again. “You guys are all I got.” And Melissa hopefully he thought to himself.  
  


And then they developed a plan. An exceedingly risky, dopey plan. A plan that would free the city from Victor Sweet forever. A plan so insane, it had to work.  
Jerry had asked Ewan to arrange a meeting with his boss, but two problems had bobbed up. First, the meeting would be in just three hours from now and second, Sweet wouldn’t make the deal with Fowler present, this corrupt asshole.  
They had to make some minor changes, but then the new plan was mapped out.  
But now everybody involved needed to be reliable.  
  


Jerry took care of the money and would go to the meeting point with Sweet’s subordinates.  
Angel had to detain Fowler before he could get involved with Sweet’s business, but without killing that scumbag. That’d be the hardest part.  
Sofi should make waves so that a large number of police would show up at Fowler’s place, and Camille and the girls had to leave the city meanwhile.  
Bobby himself would take care of the most important part, so that Victor Sweet never again would set a foot into Detroit. Another chance for god to erase him from earth’s surface. But he’d face this, he just had to.  
  


Melissa had been worrying all day if it had been the right decision not to attend the funeral, but it had been his wish and she had to respect that – wanted to respect that.  
She was all the more relieved when her phone rang around half past one and she saw his number on the screen.  
“I need you help” he started straightforwardly, “how fast can you be here?”  
She thought of it quickly. “Maybe half an hour” she responded, and without another word he had hung up.  
In next to no time she grabbed her personal belongings. “Where are you going?” asked Sarah, another assistant to their boss. “Using some of my overtime” she answered over her shoulder on the way out.  
  


It only took her 25 minutes to arrive at the Mercer house.  
Bobby had explained just the absolute bare minimum of their plan. Despite that she could imagine everything coming to a bad end if the slightest thing didn’t go according to plan. But her part was very easy.  
Half an hour later they were on their way. Melissa took her parent’s car home so it couldn’t be seen somewhere and nothing could be linked to her.  
Bobby had dropped off Angel at a small grocery store near Fowler’s house and picked her up on the way to Jerry’s house.  
There they met a very alarmed Camille who was after several explanations and reassurances from her brother-in-law finally persuaded nothing would happen to her daughters and her as long as they were out of town this afternoon.  
  


Shortly after that Jerry showed up with the sports bag full of money and Camille drove off at last.  
Now they could only hope for Angel and Sofi to get their tasks done without complications.


	10. Girls' Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We’re nearly there! After this, there’s only one more chapter! Who’s as excited as me?

So far so good. When Jerry’s pick-up service had arrived, Angel had called the last second so their plan could go on smoothly.  
Evelyn’s car was parked at the next street and Melissa waited there so the mobster wouldn’t suspect someone following them.  
That was her task, drive Bobby wherever they’d take Jeremiah. The woman had no idea where that could be, Bobby had repeatedly refused to tell her. It was better for her to know as little as possible. He’d walk the last mile or so but he’d tell her just in time.  
  


When the black SUV had driven off, he ran down the street to the car. His directions were scanty and soon after he had figured out where they were taking Jerry to. Of course, where else would Victor Sweet set up a meeting point. He had known that beforehand but had disavowed it until now.  
Melissa seemed to suspect something, because she tried to ask a question, but Bobby interrupted. “Please” he looked at her with an imploring expression, he had used only a handful of times. “Please don’t ask me something I’d have to lie about.” She just nodded and accelerated.  
  


When they reached the river bank he signaled her to stop. Slowly she left the tarmac and stopped on the side-stipe, turned off the engine. Even though they no longer drove she kept her gaze fixed on the road and clasped the steering wheel with both hands.  
“Hey” he put a hand on her arm. Just now he noticed her trembling. She turned her eyes away from the street. Tears glistened in her eyes.  
“It’s dangerous, isn’t it? Somebody will die, am I right? Are you going to kill somebody?” He looked away, and turned to the window on his side. “Bobby, please, just tell me the truth…” Her voice failed her. He nodded slowly. Tears dropped from her chin to the center console.  
“Hey, weathergirl, don’t cry” he mumbled helplessly and wiped away the salty trails on her cheeks with his thumb. It was a losing game since instantly new tears followed. She squinted her eyes.  
  


“You’re coming back, yes? Promise.” She beseeched him.   
He had to swallow hard. “You know I can’t.” ‘But you can’t imagine how badly I want to promise you to come back’ he added in his mind.  
He didn’t do this just to do justice to his mother and brother. He did it so they had the chance for a future together. He had two options – like you have always in life – fight or flight. He had been running away from Detroit for the longest time and that hadn’t helped with anything. All he had gotten from that was lost lifetime and trouble in other cities. It was almost a miracle he hadn’t been killed at the joint somewhere.  
“But I’ll do my very best” he added eventually and tried again to wipe her tears away.  
“Good” she smiled weakly, “I just found you, I can’t lose you yet.” He knew exactly what she was talking about, he felt the same way.  
  


“Sofi shall call you when there is news.” Therewith (and a kiss) he bid farewell and marched across the ice.  
Upon his return he hopefully would have conquered his demons.  
  


When she had reassured herself, Melissa went back to the city and picked up Sofi at the police station. Melissa had no idea what the younger woman had been doing there, but whatever it was she seemed to be very pleased. Together they returned to the Mercer home.  
“You’ll tell me when there is news” the blonde checked with the other woman who looked at her calculating with furrowed brow. “Ah, you mean when one of them exercises his right to make a call” the dark-haired concluded.  
“Excuse me?” Melissa blurted out perplexed. She couldn’t believe her ears.  
Sofi shrugged her shoulders. “Well, they’ll be interrogated by the police, I bet… but they won’t blow something.” Then she captured Melissa’s horrified expression and couldn’t help laughing. “Bobby didn’t tell you about that, did he?” she observed after recovering from her fit of laughter.  
Melissa just shook her head and tried to hide how much that hurt her.  
  


“He didn’t tell you, because he wants to protect you.” Sofi had a sure feeling for the emotions of her fellows. “He’s head over heels in love with you, I sense that even though he won’t admit it even if his life depends on that.” She looked her straight in the eye. “And the way your eyes shine and your lips twitch upon mentioning his name, you’re just as deeply in love” the Latina continued. “Don’t hold it against him and don’t worry too much.”  
  


To kill time the women proceeded to straighten up the house. After the shootout there had a lot of repair and replacement to be done. Even though they only collected what was destroyed beyond repair it quickly started to look like a home again.  
It had turned dark in the meantime but neither Bobby nor Angel had given them a shout. Soon after Camille called Sofi and so they learned that there was also nothing new from Jerry. But his wife invited them over, so they could bolster up each other. Aside from that she had been cooking to much dinner, so if they were hungry…  
They accepted gratefully and sat in Jerry’s and Camille’s kitchen about 15 minutes later.  
  


The girls Amelia and Daniela had noticed something unusual was going on and resisted going to bed. Instead, they ran around the kitchen and tried to turn it upside down. The younger one was also very interested in Melissa’s hair, apparently, she had never seen such straight, light hair close.  
While Melissa was trying to find the right balance between keeping on the right side with Bobby’s nieces and avoiding her hair getting pulled to much – not to mention torn out hair – Sofi told with lots of laughing how clueless and naïve the newest member of the ‘Mercer women’ was.  
  


“You have to learn a lot” Camille laughed, after she had put her foot down and sent her daughters to bed ultimately. “Where talking about the Mercers, there’ll always be trouble, especially when Bobby’s in town. And now that he has a very good reason to stay…” The oldest of them three winked at her meaningfully while she poured them all a glass of white wine. “But now tell us something about you.” Camille glanced at Melissa curiously after they had sat down in the living room.  
  


Melissa gave a little cough nervously. “There’s not much to tell.” She pivoted the wine in her glass and took a sip.  
“Then start with how you came to know Bobby” Camille asked again. “Okay then” Melissa succumbed to the inquiry and did her very best to tell the story, only interrupted by occasional follow-up questions.  
In between Camille refilled the glasses again and again, what made Melissa talky. And so she told also the story of how she had to give up on her dream of taking classes in meteorology and was stuck at this job now, that barely lived up to her expectations. How complicated her relationship to her parents was and how much it bugged her she didn’t have the time for her best friend she deserved. And how she had lost her faith in men and that true love existed when her college boyfriend had cheated on her.  
  


“She’s so different to everything Bobby attracts” Sofi giggled there refilling her glass for the third time. Camille nodded approvingly. “That’s probably why he’s so tempted.”  
“Hey, I’m still here, I can hear you” Melissa exclaimed and tried to jump up, what her body countered with throwing her off balance. Camille had been quite busy to keep the glasses full. The clock told her it was also midnight already. Oh shit, she had to go to work tomorrow – it was only Thursday.  
“It really has been funny hanging out with you two, but I need to go home now. I have work tomorrow” she tried to pronounce the words as clearly as possible.  
“Oh, come on” Camille had apparently gone easy on her own glass and was way less intoxicated. “You can stay the night and tomorrow you call in sick.” Her tone of voice was very forthright, but Melissa protested. “I’m never sick!”  
Her counterpart laughed. “Then you have to more than ever” she grinned “besides, you told us you don’t like your job. If you go there tomorrow, you’ll miss it when the boys are set free. You don’t want to miss that, do you?”  
  


She was right, Melissa didn’t want to miss that. And so, she allowed the older woman to bring them more pillows and a blanket and tried to make their sleeping place on the couch as comfortable as possible. Sofi had already dozed off when Melissa tucked them in. Drowsily the younger one threw her arms around the other.  
“We’re sisters now” she mumbled barely audible before going back to sleep immediately after. Melissa tried to do the same but her thoughts kept her awake for some minutes, before fatigue came to the alcohol’s assistance and she finally fell asleep.  
  


The next morning Melissa really didn’t feel well. Not quite sick, but definitely not good. Partly due to the wine, partly due to the night on the couch. Being 28 years old she didn’t get over such a night like ten years ago. Another cause was her guilty conscience, but that got better after Camille reasoned with her. Coffee did also help.  
  


The girls were at school, and eventually the other two women began to worry.  
“When they don’t get in touch for such a long time, they still are at the police, and are too stubborn to make a call” Sofi hissed, who was in a combative mood today. If she got ahold of Angel like this, he’ll definitely be in trouble.

“That’s it, we’re going to the precinct now” Camille decided vigorous and shortly after they were on the road. On their way they made a quick side-trip to get another car. Camille’s car was big, but still just a five-seater. A few minutes later they reached their destination.  
  


Melissa immediately jumped out of the car and rushed to the entrance.  
“Not so fast, young lady” the oldest stopped her. “When we go in there, we’re gonna light a fire under whatever poor bastard is there and that’s new for you. So hang back and let the pros do this.”  
And she was proved right, because Melissa could have never imagined what happened right after. This was a whole new world to her she just started to delve into.  
  


Like two Harpies the women ate the officer on duty at the reception desk alive, screeching, screaming, demanding. The poor man had his hands full with trying to accommodate the requests.  
After a quarter-hour full of clamor and nagging Jerry was set free, pushed effectively.  
“Don’t push him like that!” Camille yelled, still mad but also relieved, before she started scolding her husband.  
Moments later Angel showed up and Sofi darted at him immediately. They billed and cooed as if nothing had happened.  
Just Bobby was nowhere to be seen.  
  


“Lemme catch you on the street without that badge! I'll smack that smirk right off your face, you punk!” Bobby Mercer was no one to be intimidated by the police, neither with violence nor with faked evidence. And he told that officer, who let him out of the interrogation room.  
The euphoria, he had felt after his triumph, had faded away during this… intense interrogation, but when he caught sight of Melissa waiting at the end of the hallway, he felt 15 years younger.  
“I’ll smack you, Bobby” Camille snapped at him. “You told me you weren’t gonna let him get hurt.”  
“He’s breathin’” was all he responded before getting back his belongings.  
When he looked at Melissa again, she gave him a clandestine smile and nodded at the door.  
  


A few minutes later he skipped down the stairs lively and light-footed, what he hadn’t done for quite some time. Now everything could only become better. Now he could give her all the time and attention she deserved.  
“Hey weathergirl” he called out to her and was mightily amused when she stuck out her tongue. Then he hugged her as tightly as possible without crushing her.  
“I’m so glad you’re doing well” she hummed and pressed her face into the crook of his neck. “Me too” he answered, “me too.”


	11. Staying

Finally, the chapter we all have been waiting for. Definitely rated M

* * *

The next day, Saturday, they started with the renovations. Everybody helped, Angel and Sofi, Bobby and Melissa, Jerry and Camille, even the girls although they mainly played with the pile of snow.  
They had been working hard and made good progress, and after all it became evening, time for dinner.  
Everybody else had already rushed inside when the women had been calling. Bobby was sawing one last plank und glanced over to Melissa who was waiting in the door frame, when the ball hit his foot.  
Slowly he turned and handed it back to the kids.  
“Evelyn isn't coming back?” a boy asked. “No, she’s not coming back” he answered truthfully and tried to suppress the germinal pain.  
“Because she’s dead, huh” another boy continued whereupon the girl scuffed him with a hiss. But he was right. She didn’t come back because she was dead. He had to accept that and move on.  
  


When he turned back to the house, he was more than surprised to see her sitting on the steps, not a day older the last time he’d seen her, her knitting in her hands.  
“Always so good to have you back home, son.” Her smile was so bright and imbuing, he felt the love she had for him in his chest. “You gonna stick around a little while this time?”  
“I'm thinkin' about it, Ma. I'm thinkin' about it” he responded. He really did, because now that he had found someone worth staying. His glance travelled from his mother to the woman behind. She raised one eyebrow in amusement.  
“What is it, you comin’?” she asked. He looked back to where Evelyn had been sitting, but there was nobody. He nodded absent-minded, then climbed the stairs with two long strides.  
  


She kissed him on the lips.  
“I thought I’d seen a ghost” he explained before following the family to the dining room.  
  


It was getting late this evening, and after Camille and Jerry had bundled their nodded off daughters into the car, Angel and Sofi stole away upstairs not very stealthily.  
Melissa and him cleared away the remaining dishes, when he had an idea. When the woman returned with another pile of plates from the dining room to the kitchen, he leaned at the pantry door dressed in this ugly floral bathrobe with pale lilac terrycloth cuffs. She nearly dropped the plates in surprise.  
“You know” he grinned, “not a week ago, you and me were here…” He didn’t finish the sentence, but reached out his hand. The hand, she had taped.

She stepped to him. “Why don’t we continue, where we stopped the last time?” He grinned as charmingly as he could.  
“You mean, where you stopped?” she reminded him with an undertone of mischief, but before he could reply she had entangled him in a deep kiss.  
He felt her fumbling with the bathrobe before pushing it off his shoulders. Instantly she continued with the next piece of clothing. They separated only for him to pull his shirt over his head.

Now it was his turn. Deftly he unclasped her bra through the shirt and slipped off all three garments she was wearing on her upper body. Her boobs were so much better than he had imagined – maybe smaller, but round and firm. Her nipples hardened immediately, when he fondled them with his coarse hands.  
“Bobby” she moaned barely audible.  
Quickly he opened the zipper on her jeans, slipped it off and threw it carelessly on the ground.  
  


He pulled her closer, reflexively she threw her arms around his neck. He spun them around swiftly, scooped her up and pressed her naked back against the door. She gasped surprised.  
  


The way he had pulled her close so dominantly, she could feel how badly he wanted her. His hard erection pressed through his trousers against her panties right where it was quite wet already.  
Involuntarily her thighs clasped and she swayed her hips.  
“God, Melissa” he grunted close to her ear before he nipped her neck playfully with his teeth.  
She moved one hand from his neck to his waistband and tugged it impatiently. He helped as much as he could but snatched something from the pocket before his pants joined the other clothes on the floor.  
  


She was so busy to keep her balance between him and the door behind her she just caught him freeing his rock-hard cock from his boxers and put on a condom. She shuddered. She still had her panties on and her legs wrapped around his waist, but he didn’t seem to care. She felt his fingers push the fabric a little to the side, then he found her most private parts.  
She inhaled sharply, when he penetrated her deeply with one finger.  
  


She was trembling, and it was only his finger. He kept still for a moment for her to calm down a little, then adding another digit to finger her.  
It turned him on immensely how she quivered and trembled only with his fingers. Her nails dug deep into his back and the more he ecstasiated her the more bruises were added.  
When he had the feeling, he’d go crazy any second from the throbbing of his dick, he pushed them away from the door to the kitchen counter. She squeaked when he dropped her to the countertop just to moan with pleasure when he finally sunk his full length into her.  
  


He sensed how badly she had languished for this, since she contracted around him so tightly, he had to focus on not cumming promptly.  
“Fuck me.” Her words were so faint he almost didn’t hear her, but maybe that was also due to the lack of oxygen for his brain, because his blood was needed elsewhere. “Bobby, fuck me” she repeated a little louder, craving.  
He didn’t need to be told a third dime and moments later he heard her breathing more and more erratic.  
“Melissa, I- hng” then he was incapable of expressing himself intelligibly.  
  


It took a few minutes until they both had recovered their breath. He hadn’t been this free, this euphoric, this happy for a long time. She surely felt the same way, judging from the blissful smile on her lips.  
He kissed her, but this time not with desire, but with affection and trust.  
“Do you know how wonderful you are?” he hummed, his face buried in her hair, his hands still holding her hips.  
“I don’t know” he could imagine her waggish smirk “but you can try to show me.”  
With these words he sensed blood returning, his cock becoming hard again, still buried deep inside her and her twitching told him she wanted him to fuck her again.  
  


From this weekend on there was practically no day they didn’t see each other. Of course, Melissa had to go to work again, but in the meantime, Bobby continued the renovations. He hadn’t discussed this with his brothers yet, but he could imagine himself living here, with Melissa and maybe even start a family.  
Angel had stayed another week, then he had to be back at his quarters. He wouldn’t be around on Christmas which had caused a heated quarrel with Sofi, during which they had broken up again. Melissa and Sofi stayed friends anyhow.  
Jerry finally had obtained the funding for his building project and the construction work would start next year. Camille did her very best to be a good mentor for Melissa, since she had several years of experience living with a Mercer. And she didn’t grew tired of mentioning how much Bobby had changed since he had met Melissa.  
  


Melissa had the chance to make sure of that when they had been invited to her parents for Christmas. She’d never witnessed Bobby being so polite and gentlemanly, and he overconscientiously tried to ignore her father who nearly drove them insane being a decidedly obnoxious stinker.  
Two days later he suffered a second stroke that killed him. Melissa was more affected by his death than her mother. It was like her husband’s death had freed Judy Stevens from all her demons which had plagued all the years during marriage. A few month later she sold the house and moved in with her younger sister in Florida, and she somehow went through a second adolescence with a new love affair.  
  


It took Melissa longer to come to terms with her grief, but Bobby was there for her and helped. Here nobody was to blame for this death, this was also new to him.  
  


On New Year’s Eve they had attended Rebecca’s party. Her friend couldn’t handle Melissa mourning her loss and indeed got involved with Bobby Mercer, and after this major disagreement they realized their friendship had outlived itself. From there on they went separate ways.  
  


But this night had also brought other changes, what Melissa first realized when she didn’t get her period. When she told Bobby, he admitted the condom had broken that night, but she had been so desperate and sad, he hadn’t wanted to stress her about another thing.  
And after they had assimilated this news, they actually looking forward to it.  
Jerry and Angel decided they should get the house, now that they needed it, and Bobby transformed Angel’s old room into a nursery. The other parts of the house were already altered enough for them to live there without being faced with the past all the time. Just Jack’s room remained untouched, but someday he’ll be able to face also that.  
  


On a mild evening in April they had been taking a walk around the pond and Bobby had asked Melissa the one question. It surprised nobody she’d said ‘Yes’, and they got married in August. Very few people were invited, just the family and closest friends. It took place in their own backyard, Angel had married them, Jerry and Sofi were the witnesses, and Melissa the loveliest bride, he’d ever seen, with her loose white dress, that couldn’t hide her baby bump. She’d been barefooted, because no pair of shoes fit any longer, and a coronal on her head and it had been perfect.  
Her mother had been there also, with her new boyfriend, and Bobby nearly didn’t recognize his mother-in-law. She’d become a whole new person.  
  


On a rainy afternoon in September their beautiful little daughter was born, and Bobby was sure he had never before felt so much love for another human. She had not been older than an hour and nevertheless he’d known she was the most important thing in his life now.  
  


When Camille called in the beginning of November to invite them over for Thanksgiving, it occurred to Bobby, that his life had turned around completely since last year. How much he had changed from the moment he’d come home until the second he’d decided to stay. And he did not regret one second of it.

**The End**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you’ve enjoyed it! And if you did so, maybe you want to tell me?
> 
> Now to the songs I’ve put in the playlist (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9YYRjNi84yfJVlXPQpaoY_ROqUkFEckU), maybe you’ve seen it, if not, you didn’t miss anything. I personally like things like this, because it adds another layer to the experience, and shows me the author has put thought and heart into his story.  
> I think, the songs that actually are in the movie, don’t need explanation.
> 
> Wicked Game – Chris Isaak: You know where I used it and the reason, I picked it, explains itself during chapter 8.
> 
> Herz im Sturm – Feuerschwanz: Watch the video! Awesome! This song is in German, here is a translation of the lyrics http://www.abcsonglyrics.com/feuerschwanz/herz-im-sturm.html; I’m not sure if there really is an English idiom like “to take sb.’s heart by storm” but his basically is what we say in German, and the band Feuerschwanz spun a story around it. Their music style is ‘medieval folk comedy’ and all of their songs are like this one, quite fun to listen to.  
> I used it as inspiration during that scenes, where Bobby decides to go for it, mostly while laying out his plans, not during actual meetings.
> 
> Objection (Tango) – Shakira: I now this song is actually about three people, but I imagine it being about Melissa, Bobby and his demons/the trouble. Also, not for actual meetings, but whenever Melissa tries to be sassy during chapters 3-6. Besides, I just love tango-themed music.
> 
> My Oh My – Camila Cabello: Have you seen the music video? ‘La Bonita Blade’, love it. Basically Melissa during chapter 3.
> 
> Nightfall – Blind Guardian: Well, no playlist without Blind Guardian, one of the best (maybe the best) power metal bands. Hansi Kürsch always sounds like he’s screaming from the top of a mountain.  
> Bobby’s motivation to investigate after Evelyn’s death and to revenge Jack.
> 
> Vermissen – Juju feat. Henning May: First, I don’t like rap music, and Deutschrap (German rap) is mostly awful in my opinion. But sometimes there a good songs like “Vermissen” (to miss sb.), here’s the translation I think reflects it best https://genius.com/Genius-english-translations-juju-vermissen-english-translation-lyrics; the song describes the feeling of missing somebody so badly after a breakup. Ok, I left out the breakup part, but the end of chapter 5 gets close.
> 
> Perfect Day – Miriam Stockley: Fantastic for slow waltz. Nearly picked it for my own wedding dance, but it was a little to melancholic. Soundtrack for the second half of the last chapter. Maybe Melissa picked it as her wedding dance?
> 
> Poison – Tarja Turunen: Can we talk about this woman’s voice for a second? I like all Nightwish singers equally, but Tarja on her own is awesome. Picked this cover because I wanted a female singer to represent Melissa during chapter 5-7 whenever she’s wondering if it’d be a good idea to date Bobby.
> 
> Amaranthine – Amaranthe: Somehow metal bands always have the most wonderful love songs. They have a passion that pop music lacks. Chapter 9+10 where they technically are in love already, describing the passion underneath the drama.


End file.
